Scotland manager Craig Levein has been "relieved of his duties" after a lengthy meeting of the SFA board.

They delivered their verdict on his near-three-year tenure this evening after protracted deliberations.

Scotland Under-21 coach Billy Stark will take temporary charge of the team with his first task to name a squad for next Wednesday's friendly in Luxembourg.

Levein's fate was effectively sealed when Scotland drew twice at home in their World Cup qualifiers, and then lost away to both Wales and Belgium.

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Focus will now turn to a permanent successor with former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan, who was interviewed for the job before Walter Smith took over in 2005, emerging as the early favourite.

A statement read: "The Scottish FA tonight announces that Craig Levein has been relieved of his duties as Scotland national coach.

"The board of the Scottish FA has taken the decision primarily due to the disappointing results in the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 Qualifiers, which have culminated in Scotland being bottom of the group after four matches."

The SFA stressed they would "honour Craig's contract" after Levein pleaded with chief executive Stewart Regan and president Campbell Ogilvie to be allowed to stay on until the end of the World Cup campaign.

That is likely to mean a compensation package of an estimated £700,000 being paid to Levein.

In a statement, Regan said: "We are taking this decision with real sadness. Craig has worked hard to bring success, and has been thoroughly professional in his approach to the job.

"He has achieved a great deal with the team and in other areas, such as the performance strategy. However, he would be the first to agree that football is a results-driven business. For that reason we have relieved Craig of his duties with immediate effect.

"Billy Stark will take interim charge of the team for the friendly against Luxembourg. There will be a short delay in announcing that squad, which Billy will select, and we have informed the Luxembourg FA of this development.

"After the Luxembourg match, the board will meet to begin the process of identifying and recruiting the next national coach to take us forward. We will give ourselves time, given our fixture schedule, to find the right person for the job.

"The challenge for the squad now is to improve our position in Group A and, subsequently, improve our position in the FIFA rankings.

"We also must begin preparations for the UEFA European Championships in France in 2016, which for the first time will have 24 qualification places available."

Levein had expressed his eagerness to continue in the role, which he assumed in December 2009, and appeared to have the support of his players.

But the mood of fans was stacked against the former Hearts and Dundee United manager with qualification for Brazil 2014 already looking well beyond Scotland before the halfway point of the campaign.

The SFA's seven-man board delivered their verdict after lengthy deliberations - Levein revealed last Wednesday he had pleaded his case with Regan and Ogilvie after returning from the holiday that followed last month's double header.

Levein's job had been under serious threat since the defeats by both Wales and Belgium and his overall competitive record - three wins from 12 matches - is among the worst of modern Scotland managers.

All of the victories were by one goal, two against Liechtenstein and one against Lithuania, and the home victory over the former came courtesy of a Stephen McManus header deep into injury time.

The SFA have come under severe criticism for their slow response - Levein was due to name his squad for the friendly against Luxembourg tomorrow.

Scottish Cup sponsors William Hill might also be disappointed that the SFA broke the news on the day of the fourth round draw, although their chief executive Ralph Topping, the SPL chairman, is on the board that prevaricated for so long.

With Levein's contract due to expire in summer 2014, it was inconceivable that his deal would be extended without a remarkable turnaround, and his previous results indicated that was highly unlikely.

Levein has been hit with injuries and illness to the likes of Darren Fletcher, Scott Brown and Phil Bardsley but results could not have been much worse and there was a growing feeling from fans that a new manager should be brought in to give him the chance to prepare for the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

Levein had lost the support of many fans early in his tenure by playing a 4-6-0 formation in Prague as Scotland lost 1-0 to the Czech Republic, their main rivals for a Euro 2012 play-off place.

That lack of ambition, and Levein's reluctance to admit he might have made a mistake, gave him an uphill task to win round fans and his proclamation of progress was only really backed up in friendlies and not when it mattered.

Levein's tenure was also undermined to some extent by his long silent stand-off with striker Steven Fletcher, who criticised the Prague tactics and was unhappy with being left out of future games.

Fletcher texted a member of SFA staff to inform the manager that he did not wish to be included in the squad for the Carling Nations Cup clash with Northern Ireland in February 2011 and the pair did not speak again until last month, when the Sunderland striker was recalled and went straight into the team to face Wales.

Although Fletcher's initial action was widely criticised, the situation cast doubt on Levein's man-management skills, although players genuinely seemed happy under his reign with call-offs at a minimum.

Levein also played a significant role in the appointment of Mark Wotte as performance director and plans to transform the SFA's youth development system.

But the national team's competitive results were his main priority by a distance and they were miles away from the standard required.